The battle between the Vector and the Samsung SSD 840 Pro has been closely contested ever since the Indilinx-based drive arrived late last year, though when push comes to shove OCZ could be on the losing end. As it stands today the SSD 840 Pro series is slightly cheaper and slightly faster in our real-world tests.

Therefore it makes sense that today OCZ is releasing a second SSD series based on a slightly modified version of the Barefoot 3 controller that is designed to be more cost effective.

Known as the Vertex 450, this new SSD uses the ‘Barefoot 3 M10’ controller, which features a power-optimized clock generator and runs at a slightly lower clock speed. The latter helps improve yields and thus drives costs down. Additionally, the modified Barefoot controller supports 20nm lithography NAND and AES-256 encryption.